DETROIT, Mich. –One of the best parts of bowl week is reaching out to the local community and giving back to the area.

On Sunday morning, members of the Duke football team took a trip to Gleaners Community Food Bank to package and sort food for local families. Gleaners operates five distribution centers in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe counties and provides food to 499 partner soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters and other agencies throughout southeastern Michigan. In 2017, Gleaners distributed more than 42 million pounds of food to neighbors in need. On average, Gleaners distributes 89,000 meals each day including providing nourishing food and nutrition education to 171,000 children a year.

The Blue Devils packaged potatoes, which will go into the Gleaners School Mobile Pantries. Every month a pantry brings a school 30-35 pounds of food per family. The 14,150 pounds of potatoes Duke packed on Sunday will be to a family within the next week

Blue Devil Network caught up with a number of student-athletes, and head coach David Cutcliffe to talk about what the visit to the food bank meant to them.

Check back with GoDuke.com throughout the week for exclusive coverage of Duke’s Quick Lane Bowl experience. Be sure to check out Duke Football and Duke Athletics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for real-time updates from the Motor City.